Edison to offer two degrees under $10,000

Edison State College has announced it will offer a second science education degree for less than $10,000 as part of Gov. Rick Scott’s challenge to state colleges to offer bargain degrees.

This fall, Edison will begin offering a middle grades science education degree, in addition to the secondary biology education degree the college said it would offer to satisfy the challenge. Students will attend classes through in-school and “online, innovative” coursework.

“By offering these two degrees for under $10,000, it not only assists the students who wish to keep their student debt low, but it also meets a critical shortage by responding to our community’s need for highly qualified educators in the areas of secondary and middle grades science,” said Erin Harrel, dean of the School of Education.

Debbie Terry, executive director of human resources for the Collier County School District, said certified science teachers had been considered a critical shortage area in Florida for many years. As a result, she said, the district had to move several teachers out of their fields to meet scheduling needs for biology, earth-space science, middle grades science and physics teachers.

“(This) should help us recruit the teachers necessary to fill the majority of our science positions with properly certified teachers,” she said.

Tim Ferguson, director of professional development and leadership for Lee County Public Schools, said language arts has traditionally been more popular than science.

“In elementary schools, most school teachers don’t have the background in science so there’s less interest,” he said. “We’re trying to focus more on that so science will be more appealing and hopefully, more folks will major in that.”

Statewide, most college students are enrolled in two-year programs, so the bulk of the bachelor’s degrees come from the 12 public universities, where four-year tuition is about $24,000. Edison, which has campuses in Naples, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, serves more than 24,000 students in five counties and through Edison Online. In January, Edison said it planned to cut tuition costs for the secondary biology education degree by $3,000 to meet Scott’s challenge.